Unless there's something I'm missing, I'd hardly call this a theme. It's essentially a (pretty decent) themeless w/ a bunch of symmetrically arranged answers that end in -TRA. Shteyman brings the Russian yet again, but this time in a more subtle, less obscure kind of way (via NEVA, TSARS, and Mussorgsky (50A: Several "Boris Gudonov" parts => BASSI). You've got at least three stray TRAs in this grid, which I find mildly distracting (though not abhorrent). Couple of partials right off the bat (A PAR, AN IN), some awkward plurals (ERICS, AFTS). Some interesting fill here and there, like FAVICON (17A: Small image displayed in a browser's address bar) and the Porsche CARERRA (65A: Line of Porsches whose name is Spanish for "race"). Not much to say about this one. I did it. My time was normal. Nothing really held me back. The end. (But I'll go on for a bit anyway, just ... 'cause).

Got totally stumped (unsurprisingly) by the somewhat high-end musical clues (in this case BASSI — I had -ASSI and still had no idea what was up — and DESCANT). Somewhat slow going early on—even though BANANAS was a gimme (1A: Chiquita import), it was so much of a gimme that I didn't trust it, and when I could only make a couple of the crosses work, I abandoned that corner to work elsewhere. Had BASH for BOFF (1D: Sockeroo). Did not connect the NEVA with the Gulf of Finland (3D: Gulf of Finland feeder). Needed the majority of the crosses to get SANITY (7D: "Madness put to good uses," per George Santayana). REAMER also required nearly every cross to come into view (26D: Metalworker's tool). Basically, if the fill came from a highly specialized vocabulary, it eluded me for a while. ADSORBS I somehow remembered, at least partially (a cross or two triggered it) (16A: Gathers on the surface, as a layer of molecules). I don't quite get how 9D: First lady of the 1910s is just a first name. Usually the clue needs a clear signal that the name will be first and not last. Whose wife is EDITH, anyway? Wilson? Yes, though clue could've read [First lady of the 1900s] and been equally true (T.R.'s second wife was also named EDITH).

OK, now I'm really done.

Today's L.A. Times puzzle is one of mine. I'll link to it as soon as it becomes available. (Try this)

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comments:

Pretty subtle theme. And, in addition to the six theme answers there are two ERA and four single A endings. Seems like a lot of As. This seemed medium to me, just about the right amount of crunch. Catching the theme half way through helped.

Random rant only slightly puzzle relevant: When NewsWeek went digital I could get it on my iPad for a while, now I can't. Tried emailing them and got some sort of stock reply. So, far they aren't taking any calls. I'm a tad pissed!

Stumped on FAQ ICON? FAn ICON?FAVICON/NEVA i would never have guessed. Well, maybe if I had 20 guesses.

TRA LA LA.

YOWZA, I didn't know you could just end things with the same letters, but it makes me happy, bec it means more possible themes!

Last week too...wasn't there a theme where things just had ends?Oh yes, the end is NEAR...

I kept looking of a reveal, a unifying phrase, or anagram. Or that it was N-TRA, till the whole TETRA thing (I missed EXTRA as a theme)you had siNaTRA, NosTRA, coNTRA, seNTRA, so...so...TETRA?!?

I don't know, skeptical, but it's playing with words, so that's what it's all about. I tried it with ---OLA ten+ years ago and got a no.But now I think I might try it again and just make a better puzzle.

Bleedover: EELand KILL became SLAY. NICE!

@jaewith your risque list of ABUTTAL, STD, REAMER, ABREAST, you left out BOFF, MOAN and REAR. DE NADA! ;)

@C. Ross Word - YOWZA, just read the late comments from yesterday. Hoo Boy, glad I was out of the fracas.

Struggled with today's and pulled another DNF on a Thursday, hope it's not another run of 3 DNF's like last week. Had the most trouble in the NW, won't go into detail as it would put most of you to sleep. Oh, you probably already are.

I did this last night in Play Against the Clock mode. My computer started off not liking the Java application - screaming at me in grey (or gray) that the Java version has security issues. I started the app anyway. Then I realized I couldn't read the clues completely and hit "enlarge the grid." This took me back the warning so I had to restart the app in my browser. The clock was still going but my answers were gone. Not enjoyable. And the grid itself in the app is just kind of ugly. The lines of the grid and the font used make it seem very dated to me.

For those of you who didn't read the late posts from yesterday, John Stewart (While doing that liberal bias thing of quoting politicians when they're being hypocritical) made a "Paul Rean" reference. Makes me wonder if the horned duck is really JS.

Oh - today's puzzle. Seemed pretty meh. Since I prefer solving in the paper and only dabble in online solving on occasion, perhaps that colored my reaction. But if you have to go looking for the sparkle maybe its not really there, though.

Tricky Thursday for me, I never saw the theme. Wish I had, as it may have helped me with the entire North earlier. Had to google FAVICON and EDITH to finish, so DNF here.

Wrote in BANANAS right off the bat, but doubted it the whole time. Hand up for hEad before TETE.

Knew immediately that 25D was Diana, but were we really still calling her LADY DI at the time she died?

Finished puzzle feeling a little blah, but maybe I was just missing the rebus or similar maneuver.

I can confirm that Jon Stewart deliberately mispronounced Paul Ryan as Rean last night. I though it was funny that he even brought up Paul as his main opening monologue, but now I think he did it just to make that "error". Too funny.

I'm having problems commenting on my iPad, anyone else? It just freezes before I finish. I think the 1A clue/answer are incorrect. Clue means successful performance or something like that, answer means have sex. Meh puzzle tho some nice fill as has been pointed out.

Surprised to see FAVICON, since it is an extremely obscure and technical term. I only know it having designed a few web sites. I suppose the theme was mroe of a technical achievment to construct than a fun solve.Well, it was still a good solve, just not the tricky Thursday I hope for.

If I had remembered the headline below, EZINES would have been more intuitive. Though I still dislike that word, which has been clued several times. (http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-10-18/newsweek-to-become-online-only-after-80-years-in-print.html)

I missed a few tiles in the east and northwest, thanks to a problem also with FAVICONS (never heard of them). I had S--IN, but couldn't get SWAIN even though I am certainly used to seeing the clue "Beauty's swain" as a clue for "beast."

We have the TRA(s) but no LA(s) or Fa(s) or Sha Na Na(s), so let’s play Peggy Lee and ask:

“Is that all there is?”

And the answer is “No”!

In fact we have a terrific puzzle from Michael but the way the “theme” is introduced (or rather, not introduced) it seems to denigrate his work, leaving it wrapped in awkwardness, looking for someone to introduce it to Crossworld.

Forget the “theme” then and consider the fill, colorful, clever and carefully contrived:

“It may have one or two sides”, that’s an ENTRÉE;

Michael goes all “Variety”-ish with BOFF for “Sockeroo”;

MOAN along with George H. W. Bush asking, “Broccoli again?”;

“Quick break” doesn’t get you a cup of coffee, it gets you a tire change at a PITSTOP.

New words to enliven one’s vocabulary, (or old friends not seen for years), are treats that sparkle---FAVICON, DESCANT ADSORBS, SWAINS, maybe even YOWZA, if you’re of a mind or Santayana’s SANITY quote.

And of course there are the TRA(s), none of which are very exciting with the possible exception of the group that slays together to stay together, the COSANOSTRA, but there are six TRA(s) and that makes for a “theme” and to think we could have had a “Yes, we have no BANANAS” theme starting at 1 Across.

Thanks, Michael, with your indulgence I’ll just praise this as a Thursday themeless extravaganza!

I never saw the theme, I'm embarrassed to say - and if I'd thought about EXTRA, I'd have thought it was some sort of substraction rebus - take TRA out of words and use what's left. But the bill was good. I spent a week in Leningrad back when it was Leningrad, so NEVA was easy - otherwise I too would have struggled with FAV ICON; that's an icon on your favorites bar, right? But you drag them there from the address bar, so the clue is correct.

I think of DESCANT as either a high harmony, or else just the top part of a piece - but I see from Rex's quoted definition that the clue is also a valid meaning. That leaves me with only one quibble, namely that the COSA NOSTRA is composed of a number of families, not just one. (Well, two quibbles - "YOU, yes YOU" I've heard; with YEAH, not so much.

This seemed more like a Tue or Wed puzzle to me. Pleasant enough, but lacking an irritating Thurs twist.I guessed at FANICON and NENA crossing a natick for me. Oh, well. Like Duke basketball...you win some, some are a DNF!

Seemed a little on the easy side for a Thursday. Would have been even easier if I'd picked up the theme (if it is a theme), but I didn't. Actually, I did notice the surfeit of TRAs, but just assumed them to be coincidental, so they didn't help with the fill.

As a themed puzzle, this was a pretty weak effort; as a non-themed puzzle, it was wonderful. How can that be?

Nevertheless, it was a fun solve for me- having met FRANK SINATRA at the Fontainbleu Hotel. He was dining with Mia Farrow and Paul Anka, and maybe the COSA NOSTRA. He was friendly and fabulous- with big blue eyes! (I was a mere child.)

Someone WARNED me that I should clean out my cookies to speed up my pc...deleted lots of FAVICONS!

An ode to a favorite crossword syllable - thought that was very cute. But I had to look at the grid for a while after finishing until I found the theme. At first I thought there might be some sort of anagramming going on.

Sockeroo means to BOFF???? or is it the other way around? I thought it meant like an afternoon quickie or something. I always think of SWAINS as swash buckler types.I did like the puzzle and learned somke new things. Also had me wanting to pounce on a rebus but he wasn't to be found.CARRERA is fun to say if you say it fast enough..

@ Dr. Fartmonster, #3: No, though I understand your logic. It’s not the same because if you make up a fake name, other bloggers will know who not to read. And the persona of a fake name takes on its own life, whereas Anon is ephemeral. Also, when I was an Anon. people would dismiss my comments out of hand. Now they enjoy saying nasty things to me, which being the masochist I am gives me even greater pleasure....

So no gimmick? Just a few answers that end in the crosswordese “TRA”? Okay, but next week better have a Rebus or other gimmick.

I still DNF as I didn’t know 3D or 17A, no matter how many times I ran the alphabet (FAQ ICON seems like a thing, but NEQA does not). I do like the bottom 3rd with the fresh fill. My second car was a 1989 NISSAN SENTRA. CARERRAs are nice but, at 6’ 6” tall I don’t fit. Maybe I do a Hightower and remove the front seat. Needed to correct ULNAE and HEAD (I thought it would be TETE the moment I wrote it, but left it in anyway – should have checked the crosses).

Lots of juicy, long stacks of words. Plus six TRAs, a TREE, a TRAY and a TRAM. Not bad.

This was either:a. A real extra tricky ThursPuz, because everyone is lookin' for a big twist, and the twist is that there ain't no twist. Or...b. A real real double secret extra tricky ThursPuz, because its twist is so subtle, no one can see it. Or...c. It's obvious, if you know Russian. That'd be horrorshow. (See: "A Clockwork Orange")

Fave fillins:YOWZA - I think this can have lots of different meanings, depending on inflection. Sorta like "in person".CARRERA - Same as last comment, but in Sp.NEVA - I want to go there. For a neva happening.AGRA and ANGORA - Mainly, just cuz they round out the "ends with an a" coset of faves that the puz themers started.

Three U's. Need more. May go on strike, until the next 15x with at least a civil 6-pack. snort.

p.s. @Lewis: Good work, my son. Yer U-count was a little hasty today, but it's the thought that counts. Go ahead and count the anemic ones for a while, and I'll step back in for the heavy liftin'. (6 U's or more.). Real nice to have a sub, kinda like 31 does whenever he gets lickerd up.

Rex, just did your puzzle. That was a blast! I loved the misdirects and the theme worked well. A couple of crosswordese, but absolutely forgivable. It's plain that you set the bar high for yourself. Bravo!

Very disappointing Thursday puzzle. Never finished the East block, but lost interest once I realized there was no Thursday-ish gimmick. Loved FAVICON, giving me the same feeling you get when the answer is an obscure town that happens to be where you live.

This week's relative difficulty ratings. See my 8/1/2009 post for an explanation and my 10/15/2012 post for an explanation of a tweak I've made to my method. In a nutshell, the higher the ratio, the higher this week's median solve time is relative to the average for the corresponding day of the week.

All solvers (this week's median solve time, average for day of week, ratio, percentile, rating)

@ED, two ponies &jae: I believe Mr. Gordon spelled his name with a U: ArtemUs. Great series, especially the episodes involving Dr. Miguelito Loveless.

I for one never noticed the -TRA theme till I came here. Must mean something good about the construction--or maybe just obtuse about me? Have a couple of clue-bones to pick: YOWZA does not mean "Whoa, baby!" It's a corruption of "Yessir!"--an expression of emphasis made most memorable by the late, great Gig Young as the dance barker in "They Shoot Horses, Don't They?" for which he deservedly won an Oscar.

Also, I'm with the group that wonders how you get ACE from "Pal," and the whole "YOU, yeah, YOU" thing is really stretching it. And yes, a PITSTOP is sort of a "quick break" in car racing--for the driver I guess--but off track it has another, more, um, functional meaning.

Never heard of a FAVICON; thank goodness for the xwordese NEVA crossing. Liked the twin I-plurals in symmetry: RADII and BASSI.

Dang; Sinatra into Cosa Nostra. I should have laughed at that, and might have noticed the TRAs. Time for some coffee!

Just had had had to read yesterday's posts! I would have to say, "Madness put to good uses." And, you can quote me. teeheeRon Diego 2/27 I think Evil Doug is in the closet, as a screaming liberal waiting to come out.

I don't know that you could call -TRA a theme (perhaps a pattern; repition of letters), but I liked it. After I got IRANCONTRA, NISSAN SENTRA was obvious off only the N. I was thinking that somehow the crossing of EXTRA and NEONTETRA was the revealer ("reveal" is not a noun, people), but I couldn't work anything out. Came close to putting in 'pee stop' for quick break.

If you go to Portugal, you must go to SINTRA. Gorgeous setting, Moorish castle ruins, tarted up National Palace, and a very engaging little town.

I couldn't decide between FaxICON and FAqICON so I left it blank - never even considered FAVICON. The pal for ACE cluing was discussed at length here some months ago but apparently not resolved so now it's back - I didn't have a problem with it then and I still don't. ABO reminds me that I have an appointment with the Red Cross next week - does giving blood count as a donation in exchange for downloading the American Red Crossword puzzles?

Busy day, so late to the party. Puzzle threw a few curves but once I decided BANANAS must be the answer, though I was looking for a Thursday curve, things went smoothly. Never heard ABUTTAL or FAVICON before, but they were right. The latter was put in in faith, as I'm not sure what a browsers address bar is. I think I was thinking of those little picture some of you know how to post with your comments. Some day I must join the 21st century, or whatever this is!

The crosses gave me the huh? FAVICON, so I post solve googled it. Interesting word. Totally missed the 'TRA' connections until I came here, but found the puzzle easier than yesterday's entry. Only writeover was ACE for AmE, (thinking French I guess).